Dragon Ball Z Bojack figures
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Dragon Ball, the story of Goku, his life and his many deaths. I guess it is only fitting that the toy line for Dragon Ball
Z is as hard to kill as the main character himself. Jakk's Pacific has had the license on life support for several years
now. But some how, every time I think the line is well and truly dead, a few new figures pop up. This time it is Bojack,
the villain from the ninth DBZ movie.
Packaging - 7/10I have to give Jakk's credit, they didn't skimp on the packaging. In fact, they probably went too far, resulting in a rather busy looking package. The figures are mounted in bubbles shaped like the one star Dragon Ball with the DBZ logo raised at the top and the character info at the bottom. The figures are displayed on the left side of the card with the only accessory, a trading card, visible on the right. Each card has its own artwork. The card for the regular Bojack has an image of Bojack standing along the left side. The Power Up Bojack version has a leaping Bojack sticking his left hand at you as if about to fire an energy blast. The gray scale artwork contrasts nicely with the colored Dragon Ball in the center of the card. While all of the individual elements are nice, the final look is too crowded. You have the words Dragon Ball Z repeated, with the Dragon Ball over it, the image of the character above that, then the trading card and the figure followed by the card inserts and finally the sculpted bubble. It's just too much. The back of the card is better. The left three fifths is used entirely for artwork of the characters included in the series. The remaining space has small photos of the actual figures, the latest two packs and trading cards. I like the artwork. But is seems like a shame to have such small photos of the actual figures.
Sculpting - 4/10Both versions of Bojack share the same mediocre sculpt. The head sculpt is passable. But they missed a rather obvious detail by not sculpting the scar across his face. And some of the details like the earrings are not as sharp as they could be. The body appears to have been recycled from another figure, though I'm too lazy to check or identify it. The body lacks the scar across the chest or any of his jewelry. And the new hands that were made don't quite match up to the forearms either.
Paint - Bojack 5/10, Power Up Bojack 2/10The paint work on Bojack is pretty basic but passable. Small details like the buckle on his belt and earrings are painted. But they missed painting the scar on his face, a rather large mistake. But then there is Power Up Bojack. To begin with, the name is very misleading. This is not how Bojack looked when powered up. In fact after scanning through the DVD, Bojack does appear in this color scheme, but only for a few seconds in the slow motion moment when he is destroyed. Add another silly mark proclaiming this as a "DBZ Limited Edition Paints" right on the left leg and you have a rather point less paint variation.
Articulation - 6/10The figures have twenty points of articulation:
Accessories - Bojack 3/10, Power Up Bojack 0/10Bojack comes with just one accessory, a removable cloth coat. I'm not a big fan of the use of cloth for such small figures. It rarely hangs properly and is never as detailed as a sculpted version. And in this case, the fuzzy cloth makes the coat look more like an oversized bathrobe. The score is also hurt by what is missing. There is no bandana and his necklaces are MIA as well. Those are fairly significant parts of the character's appearance to be missing and they would be rather easy to have included. But the Power Up Bojack version is actually worse, he has no accessories at all, unless you wan to count the trading card that they include in each package. Since the cards have nothing to do with the figures, they are worthless to me.
Value - Bojack 4/10, Power Up Bojack 2/10The retail price for the basic Dragon Ball Z figures is $6.99 if you are fortunate enough to find them at retail. That isn't a horrible price for Bojack. But the figure has a few too many short comings to score well. And given the character only exists in one of the movies and doesn't tie into the overall DBZ story line, I wouldn't knock myself out to find it. The only reasons I can think of to buy the Power Up Bojack figure is because you either are a completeist and need to get every figure or you just can't find the better, normal version.
Happy Hunting:The Dragon Ball Z line is still shipping, at least in limited numbers, to Toys R Us stores. That is where I bought these. Unfortunately that seems to be the only chain still supporting the line. (Kmart may, but I no longer have a local Kmart store to check.) Online options are not much better. There are only a few sites that even list Dragon Ball Z figures, and most of those sites want huge prices for them.
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